Top Ten for Fitness “DO’S”

1. NEVER let yourself get starved. Starved takes away all fitness- sense.
2. Set your workout days at the beginning of the week and schedule around them, not the other way around.
3. Prepare your food in advance. Don’t wait until you’re hungry or there’s a good chance you’ll grab what you shouldn’t grab.
4. Know what you’ll snack on and keep food with you always. Keep it in your purse, at your desk, and in your car. See commandment #1.
5. Stay off the scale (as much as possible). It can be a motivation buster. As you gain muscle and lose layer, your weight may stay the same or even go up. Don’t let numbers throw you off your game.
6. Eat breakfast. It’s true what they say – breakfast is the most important meal of the day. It gets the metabolism moving, and gets the brain and body rolling for the day. When you skip breakfast, you usually make up the calories later in the day anyway.
7. Have a treat meal. The key word is “meal”. Don’t have a treat day or worse a treat weekend. One over-done meal can set you back days which means you never move forward.
8. Find supportive friends. That means one or two. Don’t tell Aunt Mary who loves to cook and makes you eat. You need close friends to cheer you on, not the friends who are jealous they because they can’t do it themself (yet).
9. Drive past the drive-through. No more fast food. Not only is it just bad for you, it’s high in fat, salt, calories and chemicals, and can actually alter your mood and trigger other not-so-good cravings.
10. Your fitness is an everyday-thing, not just a weekday-thing. You should absolutely take rest days and absolutely have some food-joy, but plan it into your week, don’t cram it all into one weekend.

ROSEMARY CHICKEN

Ingredients:

1 small onion, chopped
3 stalks celery, cut into pieces
4 chicken breasts
1 t. dry rosemary or 1 T. fresh
1/2 head cabbage, cut into wedges
1/2 t. salt and pepper (or salt substitute)
1 c. tomato juice (or blend fresh in food processer)

Mix the chopped onion and celery, put 1/2 in bottom of roasting pan. Sprinkle rosemary on the chicken and place on top of the onion/celery. Place other veggies around the chicken. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and pour tomato juice over all.

Cover roasting pan and bake at 350 for 1 hour. (uncover last 10 to 15 min)

CURB YOUR STRESS –

5 tips that really work
1. Keep a tiny to-do list — every morning write down the top 3-5 tasks to accomplish that day. And then — put down your pen until the next day. Be realistic about how much you can get done and always leave a block of time for yourself.
2. Don’t go it alone — enlist others to help you complete tasks and learn how to accept offers of assistance from friends and co-workers. When you don’t try to do everything yourself, the quality of your work will go up, while your stress level will drop.
3. Feel the burn — take time every day to exercise or to do something physical. Even light exercise helps “burn off” stress hormones and stimulates important brain chemicals. It also increases the activity of key “feel-good” neurotransmitters.
4. Put away your magic wand — multitasking is not a genuine solution to anything, regardless of how much you have to do. Yes, you may need to work on several tasks throughout the day, but you aren’t a magician. Trying to “do it all” at the same time is impossible, and creates lots of stress.
Let laughter into your life — smiling more and enjoying a giggle here and there can mellow out your autonomic nervous system and provide a boost to the immune system. It also helps reduce stress hormones like cortisol. And — it’s really fun!

Fitness myth or fact!

“The difference between a myth and a fact is good science.” I love this phrase…. You see, fitness and weight loss don’t need to be complicated, but I often overhear gym-goers discussing fitness advice that just isn’t true. Let me try to shed some light on several urban myths by looking at the science.

Myth: You have to walk slowly to burn body fat. You use two types of fuel when you exercise: fat and glucose (carbohydrates/sugars break down into glucose in your body). Yes, your body uses more fat as its fuel choice when walking at a moderate pace. However, your calorie burn is also moderate. When you pick up the pace and walk or run with a high intensity, your body uses more glucose as fuel but burns calories at a faster rate. The bottom line is that most hardworking people are too busy to take a leisurely stroll for two hours. TAKEAWAY: Therefore, pick up the pace and your effort to melt body fat faster. Make the most of your exercise minutes—whether you have 10 minutes or 60 minutes, use them well.

Myth: Heavy weights will bulk women up like a guy. For you female readers, put your mind at ease. This just isn’t possible for most women. Yes, heavier weights build muscle and strength, but most of us women aren’t lifting anything so heavy that we are at risk for “man muscles.” Having more muscle on your body (both men and women) ensures that you will use more calories throughout the day, which is important as we age. If you do feel like you are gaining too much muscle (genetics plays a role), then using lighter weights with higher reps is still a good option and will help tone and firm. TAKEAWAY: Add strength training to your weekly routine. Even if you focus on just one muscle group a day and do three exercises, three sets of 15 each for that muscle group, you will benefit. You can divide your training up throughout the week. But muscle is the secret to a revved-up metabolism.

Myth: Squats make your butt big. This one cracks me up. We all know what makes your butt big, and it isn’t squats. As a matter of fact, all of us who sit in front of a computer all day or at a desk or in an airplane seat risk developing weak glutes unless we actively do something about it. Science shows that squats will help to lift, firm and strengthen your buns. Focus on good form, keeping your knees above your shoelaces, and sit back into an imaginary chair. Then squeeze back up through your glutes. TAKEAWAY: Add squats to your regimen. Try regular squats or even wall squats: Use a stability ball behind your back and slide up and down the wall while squeezing your glutes. Do three sets of 15 three to five days a week. Add hand weights for extra resistance.

Myth: Working out on an empty stomach will help you burn more body fat. This one is far from true. An empty stomach isn’t the answer to fat burning. You need to have some glucose in your system. Your body burns a mixture of fat and glucose as you exercise at moderate to hard intensity. If you like to work out first thing in the morning or after a long day at work, make sure to eat some carbohydrates 30 to 60 minutes prior to your workout. TAKEAWAY: Eat a small snack before your workouts to ensure success, like a granola bar, a banana, whole-grain toast, whole-grain cereal. Eat just one serving size, though—don’t overdo it.

Resources:

From the SUCCESS store: SUCCESS fitness combo, including Move to Lose DVD by Chris Freytag, Fitness that Fits: A Realistic Way to Reshape Your Body DVD by David Kirsch and Eating for Life hardcover book by Bill Phillips

How Is Just us Girls Boot Camp Different Than Other Fitness Boot Camps?

• Just us Girls Boot Camp is so much more that just a workout! We specialize in women’s fitness for all levels and abilities who are looking to lose weight, reduce body fat, have more energy and get stronger; so come and enjoy a challenging and effective boot camp workout. Register online for one of our next camp. Our location in Grayson is convenient to Loganville, Lawrenceville and Snellville.
• Each day is different at Just us Girls Boot Camp. With most programs, your body eventually adjusts and you reach a plateau. With Boot Camp you will be constantly challenged. The program is designed for all levels of fitness. Each group includes women who have never worked out, marathon runners, and everyone in between. You give 100% at your level. Boot camp gets you out of the gym and into the fresh air for a workout everyone can participate in, reap benefits from, and enjoy. Body composition, measurements, body weight, and fitness testing are done at the beginning and end of the 4 week session to help you gauge your results .
• We get to know you. We keep our boot camp sessions large enough to have group fun, but small enough to get to know you by name. We know your goals, as well as your obstacals and work with you to overcome and be sucessful.
• Additionally, we combine a healthy eating plan to create a results based program that allows you to experience real results in only 4 weeks. Whether you are looking for a weight loss exercise program or just to kickstart your fitness routine, our fitness boot camp program can help you reach your goals. Start now to enjoy your amazing results!

The key isn’t just what you eat, it’s what you write.

It’s scientifically proven: The key isn’t just what you eat, it’s what you write.

If you’re anything like most people, you have no idea how much food you inhale on a day-to-day basis. Thanks to multitasking, grabbing grub on the go, parking yourself in front of the TV while munching, and various other weight-loss crimes, we often barely register that we are eating. It’s tough to watch every mouthful you eat, even if you’re an expert. Researchers at Louisiana State University asked dietitians to estimate their daily caloric intake — and even the professionals lowballed the number by 10 percent. That may explain why it’s so hard to shed pounds, no matter how good the plan is.

But there’s a simple solution: Keep a food diary. Studies show that a journal doesn’t just aid weight loss — it turbo-charges it. When researchers from Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research followed more than 2,000 dieters who were encouraged to record meals and snacks, they found that the single best predictor of whether a participant would drop weight was whether the person kept a food diary. It trumped exercise habits, age, and body mass index. The number of pounds people lost was directly related to the number of days they wrote in their log. (It’s no coincidence that Weight Watchers, one of the most successful diet programs, asks participants to track what they eat.) And Guess what, we at Just us Girls Boot Camp ask you to track also!!

Here are five more reasons to start a journal today — even if you swore off diaries in middle school.

1. You’ll get a reality check about how many calories you consume.
Americans typically underestimate their daily intake by about 25 percent, reports nutritionist Carrie Latt Wiatt, author of Portion Savvy. The situation gets even more complicated when you eat out. In a 2006 study led by Cornell University, 105 diners in fast-food restaurants were asked how many calories were in their orders. For the small items, almost everyone guessed correctly; for the larger orders, the diners underestimated the calories by a whopping 38 percent. It may be an issue of perception, says study author Brian Wansink, Ph.D. The larger the quantity, the harder it is to make an accurate guess — the same is true for distances and heights.

Even professionals can be tricked by hefty portion sizes. When an NYU researcher asked 200 dietitians to estimate the calorie count of four popular restaurant dishes, the experts lowballed the number for each by a whopping 250 to 700 calories.

So stop assuming and start calculating. A good manual, like the classic Calorie King Fat & Carbohydrate Counter, makes it easy by giving you the calorie counts and fat grams for a huge number of foods. Or try nutritiondata.com, which also lists the stats for many foods.

2. You’ll cut back on between-meal munching.
Make a mental checklist of what you ate yesterday. Sure, you can probably remember breakfast, lunch, and dinner — but what about that mini Snickers you snatched from your coworker’s stash? Or that spoonful of mashed potatoes you took off your husband’s plate?

It’s easy to overlook bites, licks, and tastes (known as “BLTs” to professionals). But that’s a huge mistake — there are 25 calories, on average, in each mouthful. Translation: Six little bites a day add up to around 15 extra pounds a year.

“I remember one client who was keeping a diary and couldn’t understand why she wasn’t losing weight,” says Bethany Thayer, R.D., spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association. “We were discussing the problem when she took out a peppermint. I asked her how many she ate every day, and she said, ‘A bag.’ They’re nine calories each, but the whole bag is several hundred.”

Writing everything down can also help you make smarter food choices. If you often order a Starbucks Grande Dulce de Leche Latte, entering the data will bring you face-to-face with the fact that your beloved drink packs 440 calories, versus 23 calories for the same-size regular coffee with milk.

3. You’ll discover where your diet detours.
“I thought I ate a lot of vegetables — it seemed like I was constantly cooking spinach, broccoli, or Brussels sprouts,” says Melissa Smith, a 32-year-old mom from Omaha who’s been keeping a food diary for the past 18 months. “But looking back over a few weeks of my journal, I was surprised to realize that I was only eating veggies once or twice a week.” So she made salads a regular part of dinner and noticed that it helped her eat less of her entrée. Her analysis and follow-up action paid off: She’s lost more than 27 pounds.

A balanced diet is the key to weight loss, says Suzanne Farrell, R.D., who owns Cherry Creek Nutrition in Denver. “Whole grains, low-fat dairy, green vegetables, orange veggies, beans, nuts — science shows that we need to eat these regularly to reach a healthy body weight. So when I flip through my clients’ journals, I always look for what I’m not seeing.”

To find out how many servings of each food group you should be eating, go to mypyramid.gov. This tool will calculate the correct portions based on your age, gender, height, weight, and level of physical activity. It’ll also tell you the number of calories you should aim for daily to lose weight.

4. You’ll learn why you pig out.
Experts suggest that, to help break bad habits, you record not only what you eat, but the circumstances that prompt you to eat. For example, maybe you indulge in more sweets at work because you sit close to the vending machine. Maybe you have a milkshake several times a week because you pass Wendy’s on the way home. Or maybe every time you worry about money, you retreat into the kitchen for chips.

When you begin to notice these patterns, you can figure out ways to change them. If the vending machine is a constant temptation, stock your desk drawers with fruit and granola bars. If you can’t resist a fast-food sign, MapQuest a new route to work. If you eat when you’re under pressure, steer clear of snacks and take a short walk instead (it’s a scientifically proven stress buster).

Another bonus: “When you increase awareness of what’s going into your mouth,” says Thayer, “you’ll feel fuller sooner than if you were just mindlessly munching.”

5. You’ll see real results — quickly.
Your food diary can be as revealing as the one you kept in fifth grade. For example, to get a glimpse into how much you’ve improved your diet, compare the entries in week one (Twinkie-filled) to week four or five (ideally, veggie-filled). You can also discover which decisions translated into pounds lost — for instance, that week you had fish for dinner twice might’ve helped you lose weight.

Food journals also let you give yourself credit where credit is due (personally, I reward myself with a gold star each day I resist eating candy). And that positive reinforcement is essential for shedding pounds.

How to Write Off Pounds: A Cheat Sheet to Get Your Food Diary Started

Choose Your Medium
If you’re using pen and paper, buy a regular spiral notebook. Or go for a pre-organized book like the DietMinder. Computer addicts should check out online journals, such as myfooddiary.com ($9 per month) and nutrihand.com (free for a basic plan; $10 per month for extras). If you can’t live without your PDA, visit weightbydate.com and download the software (starting at $19).

Start Recording
The crucial info to write down: the time you ate, what you ate, and how much you ate. Make a habit of jotting notes right after you eat. “If you wait until the end of the day, it’s too easy to leave things out,” warns Suzanne Farrell, R.D. Tracking your diet online? Remember to take paper with you to restaurants, so you can write down every ingredient and calculate its nutritional content afterward.

You may also want to invest in measuring cups — they’ll help you learn what a one-and-a-half-cup portion looks like (it’s a lot less than you think) — as well as a calorie-counter book and a calculator. Armed with these tools, you can track your calories like a nutritionist would.